2015 Goals Series: Develop a Consistent Meditation Practice

This post is part of the 2015 Goals Series, where I'll share my goals for the year, why they are important to me, and how I plan to accomplish them. You can follow along here.

emanuelemaria

Hello there.  I hope you are having a good day, and are happy and healthy.  Me?  I'm feeling a little bit scattered and restless, so I thought now would be a good time to talk about my goal to develop a consistent meditation practice.

This goal has been on my radar for several years.  I've managed to meditate once or twice a week for a while now, but because I'm so inconsistent, I don't feel like I'm reaping the full benefit.  Meditation is important to me for several reasons, but mostly because it helps to reduce my stress, helps me to settle my mind, and helps me make time with my God.  I've learned that if I don't make time to quiet myself and my mind, things get out of control.

I'd like to practice on a daily basis, and that's what I'll be working towards this year.  Right now I prefer a guided meditation, because I think that helps me to focus and sit still.  I've been using a free app from Deepak Chopra and Chopra Center Meditation called Living in Love.  The app comes with one or two free guided meditations and music tracks, but there's the option to buy others for a nominal fee.  I like it because I can easily program how long I want the meditation to be.  That comes in handy for those times when I only have a few minutes.  It will also work well as I attempt to increase my meditation time over the coming months.

So here's my plan:  

• January - Meditate for 5 minutes daily
• February - Meditate for 10 minutes daily
• March - Meditate for 15 minutes daily
• April - Meditate for 20 minutes daily
• May - Meditate for 25 minutes daily
• June - Meditate for 30 minutes daily
• July - Meditate for 35 minutes daily
• August - Meditate for 40 minutes daily
• September - Meditate for 45 minutes daily
• October - Meditate for 50 minutes daily
• November - Meditate for 55 minutes daily
• December - Meditate for 60 minutes daily

I'm allowing this plan to be pretty fluid.  For instance, this month I've been meditating for ten minutes each day instead of five.  Five minutes just doesn't seem long enough, and ten minutes is pretty easy for me to do since I've been in the practice of sitting for that period of time for a while now.

I also am not that concerned about working up to an hour a day.  Would it be nice?  Absolutely!  But I recognize that sitting on a daily basis is more important than how long I sit.

I think this will be a bit hard for me to accomplish, because I'm not in the habit of making time for myself.  I have to learn that if I give myself permission to sit quietly for a few minutes, I will ultimately have the energy to devote to other things.  It's a win-win situation!

Do you have a meditation practice?  How do you manage to sit still and quiet?

See?  Even just writing about meditation has made me feel better!

Take care out there!